The smell, the odors that eminate from manures are nutrients being lost to the atmosphere. You can put manures into your garden soil and the recommendation today is that be done at least 90 days before harvesting of crops growing above ground and 120 days before harvesting root crops. However, simply buring manures does little real good because you have this layer that simply sits there. If you cannot compost the manure and you can till it into your soil so it is distributed in the top 6 to 8 inches where the soil bacteria will work at digesting it so the nutrients in that manure are available to your plants that would be the next option, but don't simply bury the manure.

Often times when planting bushes, trees, or tomatoes, I dig a hole deep enough to bury manure, or whatever is handy. On top of that is atleast a foot or two of good topsoil and that is the base of my planting hole.

I fill that hole full of water, and let it dry, then repeat. After all is settled I finish up the planting hole and set in the plants.

The roots will grow into the area as it becomes ready to recieve roots and feed them. :)

Thanks for the answers.

Kimmsr, does that mean that it would be acceptable to spread a layer of fresh manure over the garden between now and April, till it in and then plant a month later? If I planted 60 to 90 day harvesting plants like corn, beans, tomatoes, etc., the harvest would be at least 90 days from the spreading of the manure. Would that really be safe?

I know it may not be acceptable to the neighbours! (Pew!)

Maplerbirch, I think I have read about an old native tradition of burying a fish or something at the bottom of a planting hole. I think that is why I posed the original question, come to think of it.

Is there any chance that the manure will harm the plants as it is not composted? Maybe burn the roots or something? Just curious...

Kim

According to the USDA, National Institute of Health, and the Center for Disease Control tilling the manure in in April and then planting in May and harvesting 90 days later is safe.
There is always a chance that fresh manure might burn plant roots, but I've not seen that fresh manure tilled into soil a month before planting does that. Fresh manure spread around plants after they are up and growing will more than likely "burn" plants roots.

Right now the temperature here is around freezing, plus or minus a few degrees. If I picked up a big load of the fresh horse manure and made the suggested 3x3x3 feet minimum pile, would it actually start to heat up, or would it have to wait until the outside air warms up some more too?

Paully that manure would definatly start to heat right away
It will probly be steaming when you get it

Got a source of manure? Great! Here's (one way) to use it in a trench:
1. Dig your trench (this will probably be tougher than it seems). Dig it deeper than you think you want it by at least a foot.
2. Get some straw. How much straw? Start with 2 bales for a trench 2' wide and 2' deep. Adjust for size - you won't go wrong with straw - never too much - but you won't need a trailer-load. Handful of bales to be safe.
3. Starting at the bottom (dirt layer) fluff about 6-8 inches of straw into the trench. Put a layer of manure about 3" deep over - just fork it in, try to cover evenly but no big deal. Another layer of straw, manure, repeat until filled or near top. For top layers, mix in a little excavated soil with both straw and manure layers.

If you have a lot of material, double the layer thicknessses and stomp it in, compacting it. Top-most layer at very top is 3-6 inches garden soil. Plant anything but root crops - and I suspect potatoes would do just fine (I know, they're supposed to scab in manure - I've been lucky then).
4. Wash your crops well. Enjoy.

The best cucumber year I ever had was after this method, with sprinkles of blood meal over the straw layers - but that's probably overkill.

For raised beds, dig a shallower trench - but the raised bed will rapidly subside and you'll have to do it again next year unless you make the initial pile 2 feet or so high. I had one pile like this and by the end of the season it was a foot, and next spring, it was even with the rest of the garden - except the soil was terrific (texture, etc).

No-smell with this, but you might need to take a couple showers after "mucking about" for a day :)

I'm probably overthinking the question/problem .... but wonder if the soil type enters into the equation. If very sandy, will the nutrient from manure leach downward away from the root zone? Is there a reason why you can't compost the manure in a more conventional/central way?

Our new garden beds that we built in spring 2009 were double dug. We dumped a full trailer load of fresh (just mucked from the stalls that morning) into the bottom of the bed and piled the dirt back on top. We planted within a fairly short period of time in the top layer - soil only. We did not mix, rather we moistened the bottom layer so it might begin warming up and create a slightly warmer root zone. This technique is described in Growing Fruits and Vegetables Organically, by Rodale Press.

Wow. The more I read these ideas, the more my back hurts...and the ground is still frozen, so I cannot even begin to dig!

Maybe it is time for the back-story: I am getting a new allotment garden plot at a local site. The ground is heavy clay, not very fertile at all and rather weedy. Everyone knew that the previous renter was leaving after last summer, so they all tossed their weeds and stems and junk on the plot, so it really looks like a mess.

My hope is to plant a couple rows of raspberries and strawberries on it next year, so I would like to get the plot improved as quickly as possible this year. I also want to curb the weed problem.

My first thought was to fill it up with legumes like peas, beans, etc. to maybe generate a bit of a crop for this year, but mostly to fix nitrogen, break up the clay and generate green manure. I read that fava/broad beans are great nitrogen fixers and also generate tons of greens for compost or mulch, so I was considering planting some of those along with the peas and snap beans.

Then I found out about the free horse poop and started wondering if there was a way to get it incorporated heavily into the plot without the neighbouring allotment renters rising up and slaying me because of the smell! That is why I was trying to get around conventionally composting the manure above ground.

One thing about these allotment gardens is that they are all sitting about six inches lower than the grass in the aisles around the beds. They have been used up and packed down heavily over the years. Each plot area is 20' by 25', so 500 sqare feet. I would need about nine yards of compost/soil to bring it up six inches to grade, and 18 yards to raise the whole allotment 6 inches above grade. This will be a big job.

If I were in your shoes I would be looking to buy bulk compost to fill that plot in. This might be something you could do in a season, but heavy compacted soil doesn't sound like the ideal starting point. And yes, even with four people helping in various degrees, ours was a lot of work and our backs hurt. And the beer was so good!

Yes, a truckload of bulk compost would be just the ticket, but being a neo-modern house-husband (you can tell by my short and sassy hairdo ;-)), I have little time, but even less money, so I am more interested in the free and/or cheap alternatives!

We have a herd of horses so this idea of buring the manure is music to our ears!!

If I had fresh manure I would dig it in so that it's incorporated into the soil. While I'm doing the work, or if I couldn't do it now, I'd cover the manure pile with a plastic tarp. I dig in 3 inches of manure in two passes. One digging north/south, then going east west. That helps chop up the clods better.

It's my opinion that if you mix any kind of organic matter into clay you can grow excellent crops. Just digging in peat works wonders. Also chopped leaves, maybe a few unchopped leaves, grass clippings. Even unchopped oak leaves will disappear by spring if dug in.

I'm going only by my experiences with the clay here. Seems like clay is an excellent growing medium. It just needs loosened up.